“Before you do, I would speak with you and Mistress Felton,” Sir Richard said.
Luke nodded and, indicated for Farrington to follow him.
In the Great Hall, Farrington looked up at the ceiling where Luke's men had been patching the holes.
“Is it true?” Farrington asked.
“Is what true?” Luke asked
“The stories I have had relayed to me about the fate of the Byton garrison?”
Luke nodded. “The garrison had surrendered. Your son ordered them to be tied them in pairs and their throats to be slit. I saw the bodies.”
Farrington looked away.
Luke gestured at Deliverance. “His crimes don't end there. He threatened to strip and rape Mistress Felton. Do you want me to continue?”
Sir Richard shook his head. All his confidence and swagger had gone from him. He looked old and tired.
“You still have one son,” Deliverance said.
The older man stiffened. “Jack is lost to me. I can never forgive his treachery.”
“Even after you have seen everything Charles is capable of?” Deliverance said. “Would you rather hold on to a cold-hearted murderer or have a man of honor and integrity.”
“Jack has betrayed his family. That is the worst betrayal. Now take me to my son. My only son.”
“Sir Richard, please, if ever you were a friend of ours, what Charles did was the act of a monster,” Deliverance persisted.
Sir Richard ignored her and turned towards the door.
Luke caught Deliverance's stricken look. He shook his head, trying to convey to her that this was civil war and the Farringtons and the Feltons would forever stand on either side of a line that could not be crossed.
Luke allowed father and son to meet in private but he waited outside the door with the armed escort. The Kinton Lacey garrison watched Farrington’s men from the walls, their weapons primed, for the first sign of trouble from the royalist force outside the gate.
Whatever passed between Sir Richard Farrington and his son was concluded in less than fifteen minutes. Luke locked the door behind him and with the escort saw Sir Richard to the gate.
At the gate Farrington stopped. “Thank you, Captain Collyer. You have proved yourself an honourable adversary.”
“We are all subject to the dictates of our consciences, Sir Richard.”
Farrington stroked his moustache. “Maybe. I bid you good day.”
Luke watched by the gate as the man picked up his sword and flag and remounted the horse. He rode away at a gentle trot, rejoining his troops. The whole body wheeled and rode away.
Luke left his men at the ready but Farrington had gone and Luke doubted he would return. The campaigning season ended in a few short months and the New Year would bring new challenges and maybe another force to the gates of Kinton Lacey, but he doubted he would be there to see them.
Deliverance lay awake watching Luke sleeping in the thin light of early morning. She had shared a bed with her sister for many years but a man was different. She smiled. She didn’t mind that he slept on his stomach, sprawled across the bed, leaving her with only a narrow strip on the edge. She liked the comfort of his even breathing, the gentle rise and fall of his back.
She flicked the covers back revealing the whole, long, beautiful length of him from his broad shoulders to his narrow hips, firm buttocks and long, lean rider's legs and sighed deeply. It still astonished her that this beautiful man seemed to love her.
She let her finger glide down the length of his spine. She followed her finger with gentle kisses and when he still didn’t wake, she slapped his rump. He groaned and swore, rolling over to look up at her.
“What did you do that for?”
“It's time for me to go,” she said.
They had received the message yesterday. Gloucester had been relieved and her father was on his way home. This would be their last opportunity of a night together before Sir John returned.
“We both need to be at our best today,” she said.
Luke sighed. “Toby has been polishing my breastplate for the last two days. I hope your father is impressed.”
Deliverance laid her head on his chest. Luke stroked her face. “He should be very proud of his daughter.”
Deliverance turned her head to smile at him. “And his garrison commander.”
She sat up, her hair tumbling around her shoulders. Luke curled a strand in his finger.
“Are you in a hurry?” he wheedled.
Deliverance rolled on top of him and kissed his nose, his chin and his mouth. “I'm sure a few more minutes won't matter.”
A sharp rap on the door startled them both into wakefulness. Bright daylight and the sounds of a castle at work told them they had slept too long.
“Sorry to bother you.” Ned's voice came from behind the stout oak door. “But Sir John Felton has been sighted. He's only a mile away.”
Deliverance shot a desperate look at Luke. “He must have been on the road since break of day. Oh no, this isn't how I meant to meet my father.”
No flitting back to her room in the cold light of dawn. She groped for her clothes. She needed to look properly dressed and as if she had been up for hours.
Luke made a poor lady's maid. He seemed to be much more adept at getting her out of her clothes then back into them.
As he tied the lace on her bodice he said, “You look fine, Deliverance.”
Deliverance threw back the bolt on the door and shot past Ned Barrett. She didn't have time for pleasantries.
From beyond the walls, she heard a trumpet and drumbeats and a mighty cheer from the garrison, no doubt lining the castle walls. Her father had arrived and she felt like a strumpet who had just climbed out of her lover's bed.
She was a strumpet who had just climbed out of her lover's bed.
In her bedchamber she found Penitence, immaculately dressed in a sober gown of grey wool.
Penitence looked at her sister and gasped, “Oh, Liv. You can't meet Father looking like that. Quick, Meg, fetch some water.”
Her plans of greeting her father from the gatehouse abandoned, Deliverance took a deep breath and composed herself. Clad in a gown of dark blue wool trimmed only with plain collar and cuffs, her hair shoved into a neat white matronly cap, she descended with dignity to the Great Hall, her heart beating wildly beneath her bodice.
Did she have strumpet tattooed on her forehead?
The room seemed full of men in armour and uniform. Her father stood with his back to them, talking to Luke, who looked, annoyingly calm and unflustered and perfectly attired. Deliverance wondered when he had found the time to draw a razor over his chin. Luke said something and Sir John turned. A smile spread across his face and he held out his arms, in a curiously uncharacteristic, paternal gesture.
“Here, they are. My beautiful daughters. Come here and greet your father!”
The two women came forward. Deliverance gave her father a dutiful kiss on the cheek and stepped back when he made no move to embrace her. Penitence he folded in his arms and hugged her.
Deliverance saw Luke's quick glance in her direction. Nothing had changed. Penitence would always be her father’s darling.
Sir John released his younger daughter and looked from one to the other with a fond smile.
“Girls, I know we have much news to exchange but run along. I have men's business to discuss. I will see you in the parlour shortly.”
“But, Father...” Deliverance stared at her father in disbelief. After all she had done, she was to be dismissed out of hand?
He waved at the door. “I will see you in the parlour.”
Luke looked at Deliverance and gave her a barely perceptible shrug and a sympathetic smile, as Sir John turned back to the officers of the garrison. “Now, Collyer, a full account of what has transpired here, please.”
Fuming, Deliverance paced the parlour floor. “Dismissed, like a pair of brainless ninnies,” she said for the fourth time.
“Liv, p
lease stop your pacing, you are making me quite ill. You know what Father is like. I'm sure Luke will explain it all to him,” Penitence said.
It was an hour before Sir John appeared at the door. He entered the room and sat down in his familiar chair, crossing his legs. He steepled his fingers and regarded his daughters.
“I hear nothing but good things about the way you two have conducted yourselves over the last few months,” he said. “I am very proud of both of you.”
“Thank you, Father,” Deliverance said. “We could not have done it without Captain Collyer.”
Sir John nodded and fingered his moustache. “I have to say I had my doubts about sending him here but he was causing nothing but trouble in Gloucester. I've given him orders to escort Charles Farrington to London to stand trial. Collyer is best placed to give the evidence needed to see the man swing.”
“You’re sending him away?” Deliverance stared at her father in disbelief. “He will return here—after London?”
“Return here? Don't be silly, girl.”
Panic gripped Deliverance. A world without Luke in it was unimaginable. “But what if Sir Richard tries again?”
“If he does, I have every confidence in my new garrison commander.” He patted the arm of his chair. “Penitence, dear child, come here.”
Penitence glanced at her sister and like an obedient young girl, perched on the arm of her father's chair.
“Penitence, I have given my consent for Jack Farrington to marry you. I have no doubts about the boy's loyalty to you and that his commitment is to the cause of Parliament.”
“Oh, Father, that is wonderful!”
Penitence kissed her father and jumped up, running over to Deliverance who hugged her fondly.
“The wedding will be conducted as soon as the banns are called and as my son-in-law, I have no hesitation in leaving Kinton Lacey in his hands.”
“What?” Deliverance released her sister and stood staring at her father. “Jack is your new garrison commander? Father, no. That's not fair.”
He met her outburst with surprise on his face. “Deliverance? Are you questioning my judgement?”
“Father, you don't understand...” she struggled to find the words to explain what Kinton Lacey meant to her. Words failing her, she ran from the room.
Luke, busy with Sir John’s demands did not see Deliverance until supper. He took his place next to her, pressing his knee against hers. When she did not respond, he glanced at her, seeing the downward cast of her mouth.
The reason for her despondency became apparent when Sir John rose to his feet and announced that his daughter Penitence would marry Jack Farrington. Everyone stood to applaud the news. Amidst the cheers, Sir John held up his hand.
“Of course, now I am blessed with a son-in-law to take the worry of Kinton Lacey from my shoulders, I shall be leaving the castle in Jack's capable hands.”
Luke’s fingers clenched as he looked at Deliverance's stiff shoulders and bowed head. She rose to kiss her sister and offer public congratulations to the happy couple, but he knew her heart would be breaking.
He seemed to be alone in understanding what Kinton Lacey meant to Deliverance and his hands by his side clenched into fists at Sir John's blindness to everything his daughter had done. As she sat down again his fingers sought hers under the table and he squeezed them in silent sympathy.
Sir John set down his glass and turned to Luke. “Collyer, I quite forgot. A letter came for you in Gloucester just after you left. I have it about me, somewhere. Oh, here we are.”
He handed Luke a much creased and stained square of folded paper. Luke turned it over. He read the words written on the outside, recognising the writing and for a moment the world tilted on its access.
How had she found him?
There could be no good news to be imparted in this missive. He stowed the letter inside his jacket without breaking the seal.
“Luke?” Deliverance looked at him with an enquiring lift of her eyebrow.
He smiled at her. “Nothing of any importance.”
His heart hammered at the lie. Whatever the letter contained, it was not something to be read in public. It could wait until later when he was alone.
The paper burned in his jacket all through the interminable meal but as soon as Sir John dismissed them, Luke retired to his room.
With Sir John's return, Luke and Ned had found other quarters in the upper floor of the residence, in a room badly damaged by shot. It had begun to rain and the roof leaked abominably.
Luke found a dry corner, lit a candle and with shaking fingers pulled out the paper. He traced Elizabeth’s bold hand “Msr Luke Collyer, officer of Gloucester garrison.” His sister had always been tenacious. Somehow she had tracked him down.
He broke the seal, swallowed and read the short epistle three times before the import of the words sank home. He sat down heavily on the one chair in the bare room, balling the paper in his fist.
A gentle knock on the door roused him from his reverie as he recognised the coded knock as being Deliverance.
At his quick ‘Come in’, she pushed open the door and slipped inside. When he didn't rise to take her in his arms, she crossed over to him and knelt at his feet.
“Luke, what is it? You look as if you've seen a ghost?”
“In a way I have,” he said.
“Who was the letter from?” Deliverance asked.
He lifted his hand and Deliverance took the crumpled paper, smoothing it on the table.
“Who is Beth?” she asked, having only glanced at the signature. He heard the suspicion in her voice and smiled.
“My sister,” he said.
“She has terrible writing,” Deliverance said. “I can barely read it. Oh, it's dated over five months ago.”
“Read it,” he said.
“Dearest Luke,” Deliverance began, “It is only by sheer chance that I have had reports of you being seen in Gloucester so I am sending this there, even though it is in enemy hands, in the hope that somehow it will reach you. They tell me you go by the name of Collyer so I have addressed this accordingly. I write with sad news of great import to you. Our father was wounded in a minor skirmish in March. He came home to recuperate but the wound turned gangrenous and he died in great agony. During his last illness he spoke your name and clutched at my sleeve, beseeching me to find you and to tell you that in his heart you are forgiven. He did not, despite all his threats, change his will and you remain the heir to the estates in Yorkshire. The rest, of course, have passed to Nicholas and he is now Viscount Harcourt. I fear he remains obdurate and unforgiving. He will not hear your name mentioned in his presence. So we remain a house divided but, despite Nick's injunctions, I wished you to know that father's last thoughts were of you and that while Nick is away from home, dear brother, you are always welcome in this house. I long to see you. Your loving sister Beth.”
Deliverance set the letter down on the table and rose to her feet. “Who are you, Luke?”
Luke swallowed. “I am the disappointing younger son of the late Viscount Harcourt of Chirton in Warwickshire. My brother, Nicholas, who fights for the King, has, as you have read taken my father’s title and estates. My sister Beth stands between us both, as she always has done. The good news is that I apparently now own quite considerable estates in Yorkshire, which were my mother’s.”
Deliverance stared at him. She shook her head, opened her mouth and shut it again. For the first time in all of their acquaintance, Deliverance had been struck dumb.
He took her hand and pressed it to his lips. “Here, with you, I am plain Captain Luke Collyer. Collyer was my mother’s name. The person referred to in that letter no longer exists. I have been estranged from my family since two years before this accursed war.”
“Tell me again what did you do?”
Luke looked away, propping his elbow on the table and leaning his head on his hand. He took no pride in the cause of the family estrangement. “I...I cuckolded my brother,�
�� he said. “Nick entered King Charles' service when he was still a boy and spent most of his time at court. He advanced rapidly and was betrothed to marry one of the Queen's ladies.” He took a breath, feeling the heat of embarrassment burning his face. “I'm not proud of what I did but I only went where she led.” He brought his gaze back to face Deliverance and swallowed. He may as well confess all. “Nick found us in bed. There was a terrible row and father banished me from England. When I returned our political differences put a greater divide between us. I’m sorry to deceive you, Deliverance. I thought it a life I had put behind me.”
She looked at him for a long moment before she said. “None of that matters to me. You are Luke Collyer, soldier of fortune and the man I love.”
He caught her in his arms and kissed her. As they broke apart, he drew her in closer, wrapping his arms around her. “And I am trying to summon the courage to ask your father for your hand in marriage. Will you marry me, Deliverance Felton?”
Her arms tightened around him. “I think that would be a terrible idea,” she said. “But if you're the best offer I'm ever likely to get, then yes”
He laughed and looked down at her strong face with the beautiful eyes and sharp, determined chin. “Yes, I'm afraid you are stuck with me,” he murmured as he bent to kiss her.
And maybe, when all of this is over, you will be Deliverance Harcourt, mistress of a beautiful house in Yorkshire, that will bring you solace for the loss of Kinton Lacey, he thought.
Chapter 24
Luke stood outside the library, which had been turned back to its rightful owner, staring at the blackened studs in the old oak door. By his side, Deliverance fidgeted. He had never seen her so nervous and in truth riding into the teeth of enemy musket fire seemed less daunting than facing Sir John Felton. He squeezed her hand and knocked.
At Sir John's abrupt ‘Enter’, Deliverance put her hand to her chest and flattened herself against the wall.
They had agreed, after some argument, that Luke would face Sir John on his own so he turned the handle and stepped into the familiar room, shutting the door behind him. He had every confidence that Deliverance would have her ear to the keyhole.
Her Rebel Heart: A romance of the English Civil War Page 22